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Ally’s wish has been granted!!  We are here at Give Kids the World Village, and it is AWESOME!  Really, what an awesome place.  Before I get into the village, let me tell you about how our day started.  We were picked up at 7a.m. by a beautiful black limo.  Our driver was Mr. John, and he was incredibly nice.  Ally was beside herself!  She was a little overwhelmed when she first got into it (lights, fiber optics, lights, more lights, beautiful seating - lots of it…The apprehension soon wore off, and she was in heaven.  She was moving from seat to seat laughing and talking up a storm!The plane ride went well.  Ally is a really good on a plane.  She watched her shows and colored.Her second treat of the day came when she got off the airplane.  She had no idea her Nana Jan was there to meet us to join us on her special wish trip.  Ally was excited to see her Nana!Our villa (in the new section of the property) is a two bedroom, two bath villa - full-size washer/dryer, kitchen, etc.We are right across the street from a HUGE, new playground modeled after the game Candyland.  It is really cute!  Ally played there a bit tonight before dinner.  I went to a meeting and got all of our park tickets and special passes.  There’s so much to do, and so little time!  I think we are going to start at Sea World tomorrow.  Ally will LOVE the animals!!

After all most two months with no updates, we have finally had some time to upload new pictures.

We had an eventful week this week!

Allyson’s wish granters paid us a visit Tuesday night.  They were very nice!  It is not official, but the wish Ally requested was to go to the Give Kids the World Village down in Orlando (http://www.gktw.org).  We all get to go and stay at the village, and while we are there, we get tickets to Disney World, Sea World, and I believe Universal Studios.  Ally loves animals, so a visit to the Animal Kingdom will be a favorite I’m sure.  She also wants to meet the princesses at the castle; I believe she offically requested to meet Ariel and Sleeping Beauty.

Brad is busy finding a new job.  He’s already had an interview, and the follow-up/second interview is this Thursday.  Other “feelers” are out as well.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Ally and Benjamin are doing well.  Our friends, The Salmons, came over for a visit Saturday evening.  All of our kids had a great time playing with each other.  Ally was tired, so she was the first to crash out.  Sunday morning, we visited the castle playground again.  Ally and Ben love it there, so we try to go as much as we can…it is so close to our house.

Sunday evening, we went over to our friends, Josh and Cheryl’s, new house.  The kids had their first interactions with a cat.  Ben took to the cat right away.  He was sooo cute with her.  He’d get down on the floor and talk right at her.  Patches would roll over onto her side for Ben to pet her.  Ally wasn’t so sure at first, but after a while, she warmed up and love the cat too.  She spent lots of time with playing with the cat’s toys (and the cat!).  It was really cute.

Ally has another treatment this week - the extra-mega dose of chemo and a spinal tap.  Brad’s parents are coming in for Easter.  Busy, busy, busy!

We finally had some time to update the site. Allyson and Benjamin are doing very well. My employer just went through another round of layoffs and it was my turn this time (14 people in round  3). So, I got to spend spring break with Lisa and it was great. I think it is the first time in almost two years that Lisa and I had more than one day to do things together. The good news is that I already have a few leads and I am looking forward to see where this part of my career will take me. If you had asked me five and half years ago I would have never guessed I would have worked in advertising.  Enjoy the new photos and movies.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

One more stroll down memory lane…February 14, 2008

The results are in…..Dr. Rob called and we are in remission! (This does not mean she is cured or that we are finished with treamtment…we still have two years and five months to go.) This means he did not see leukemic cells in her bone marrow - the chemo is doing its job. He also said that he is starting to see new growth. That was the best news that we could have heard. We can now move into phase two of her chemotherapy which will last until mid-August.

2009…Ally has been in the maintenance phase of her treamtment since the end of August.  Here’s an update in a nut-shell.

The chemo is doing its job.  Ally gets chemo treatment every Saturday until August of 2010.  Every eight weeks, she gets a lumbar puncture with chemo injected into her spine and a push of chemo into her port.  (That is done in the hospital because she has to be sedated.) Every other time we have that done, she also has a push of another chemo (the one that makes her hair thin out).  Every three weeks, she has an infusion of IVIG, the infusion of antibodies to help her fight infection.  That treatment takes about 4-5 hours. She will continue to get that until spring of 2011. — All-in-all, things are going well.  It is stressful to keep everything going, but we manage.  Ally is doing great at school…Benjamin is talking up a storm and plays his heart out.  Brad and I march on!